Charter33

Over the past 3 weeks, I have spent about 2-4 hours at a sitting working on the copper plates. I did begin filling in some of the stealer plates, but I used regular scissors to cut them (which works, they cut easily) but they do bend a bit and when I installed them, they didn't look very clean.
 
I stopped installing more partial plates and concentrated on full plates only. Once I am done, I will go back and tackle the partials. I removed any of the partials that I did that looked bad. 
 
I also have a bit of a gap between the hull and the keel on the port side nearer the stern. I should have filled this in before. It will be visible when done, but nothing more I can do other than remove those plates and fill the gap. We'll see....
 
I finished the port side and I'm working on the starboard side. However the weather has finally turned for the better up in the northeast US and I have been concentrating on getting my boat in the water. I guess you see that a lot in builder logs....huge gaps between spurts. 
 
I also started working on the cannons as a break. I would do 4 or so courses of plates and then remove five cannons and build the bases. I don't have any pictures of that. So far, that is pretty standard work. Cutting out the carriages, axles and wheels is fairly easy, the stock is thick and does require a bit of power to cut through the sprue to get them free.
 
I sanded all of the carriages and axles to remove any fuzz. I also drilled out the holes for the bed bolt. The factory holes are a bit smaller than the 1mm wire provided. I created a crude jig for the fitting the carriages and axles together. Just some small blocks glued to a larger piece of wood to hold the carriages apart while adding the 2 axles.
 
Having seen some builders add a wire loop to the back of the cannon to hold the breaching wires. I like that. I'm thinking I would run all 30 cannons through a piece of wire to hold them all upright and then seeing if my looper pliers can create a small enough loop to suit the task. 
 
...that's down the road a bit, but I think that doing a few different tasks when working on something like copper plating or planking helps to keep the builder motivated.

The Big Reveal!
 
This kit proved to be much more challenging than I anticipated, but I am mostly happy with the result. The propeller hub ended up being a little troublesome -- the first painting effort produced a cracked finish, so several additional rounds of filling and sanding were needed. It wound up being pretty smooth, though, and easily wins the "Best Paper Hub I Have Ever Done" award. Enjoy the pictures!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
I really like the angle on this next shot because you can easily see the Typhoon's lines in the ol' Hurricane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
This last one is the new wallpaper on my phone.

 
Cheers!
 

Aaaand . . . done. I will post the Big Reveal tomorrow. Time for bed now!
 

 
And one more shot of the one-time adversaries together.
 

 
G'nite!

Hi,
It’s been a little while since my last post – life can get a bit complicated at times!
Thanks’ for all the ‘likes’, they are much appreciated and a source of motivation when tackling those more challenging tasks.
 
Before starting to apply the paint I did a bit of improvising with the tools to hand and marked on the waterline.

 
Two coats of yellow ocher where brushed on and once dry, after several attempts to get the lines right, the edges of the black strips were masked off using Tamiya’s fine masking tape.
 


Two coats of black paint later the tape was removed and the gun port linings were then neatened up with red ocher and a very fine brush. My concerns that I might lose the definition of the different plank patterns on the wales proved unfounded.
 

 
Finally I masked along the waterline and applied some copper paint.
 


Next task is to mark out the additional gun ports on the bow and come up with some kind of drilling guide for the dummy guns on the lower and middle decks.
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.

Hi,
 
Tackling the wales proved to be fairly straight forward.
 
After taking measurements from the plan and transferring them onto the hull, a strip of wood was pinned on these marks and, after a little ‘fine adjustment’, the curved lines were marked on.
 

 
The majority of the prepared pieces fitted straight on and CA glue was used for bonding.  At the bow and stern some additional shaping was required together with gentle bending with plank ‘nippers’.
These photographs show the work in progress and the final results.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
Drifting randomly through the wide ranging posts on this site the other evening I came across many superb examples of the model makers art that reminded me of a time, back in the mid-1960s, when the ‘Birthday treat’ of choice was a trip across London to visit the Cutty Sark followed by the model ship galleries at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.  It was these amazing models, mostly ‘plank on frame’, that sparked a lifetime’s interest.  Sadly these wonderfully detailed models are no longer on display although they can be examined to some extent on-line.
 
 
Why am I rambling on about this?  Well – one of the sections I was exploring that started this reminiscing was the HMS Triton project.  WOW!  My head is telling me to keep focused, the ‘Victory’ journey has a long way still to go, my heart is saying – what a challenge! The build logs, both completed models and works in progress, are very impressive.  It costs nothing to start planning… the keel plans are easily down loaded,…. and there just happens to be a very helpful and friendly print shop less than a mile away ……mmmm
 
Meanwhile, it time to start lining the gun ports.

Nice, very nice Ron. I found the bow and stern the two most satisfying stages so far.... Well done!

Channels coming up next.

Painting & Placing & PLA
 
I painted the not-black stripe using Tamiya FX-15 Flat Flesh. I came up with this number from some perusing of this website (Go MSW!) and other sources. I like the color. To my eye it is real close to the "new" historic color from back in the day as shown on the YouTube video of the paint job. 
 
To get into the nuts and bolts:
Kit Quality (inhale sharply as through a straw). Brittle does not adequately describe the plywood sheets and because of this, I had to create a lot of parts on my Ender 3 printers using TinkerCad. This included all the gunport doors, the bell housing, all the knees, the arches and roundhouses on the beakhead, the bits,  the binnacle, the seats of ease, galley stack and a bunch of other parts. I'm a bit of a techno-geek old guy who loves mechanical drawing (just not the Fusion 360 level) and TinkerCad was really helpful. 
 

 
 
 

January 2021
 
Copper. 
 
Visitors to my Pandemic Hobby Shop remark that it must take months to place the 3,000 (more or less) copper tiles onto the model. It didn't really take that long once you get a rhythm going (Here's where the Pink Floyd happens). I did not like the look of the copper on the bow in some of the pics I've see, so I went a different route, with a more horizontal belt at the bow. I found info on it in some rabbit hole, I think it might have been called the "gore" line, but I'm not sure, I have to reread Longridge tonight. Anybody know? 

One final pic. This is the Pandemic Hobby shop on August of 2020, when I repurposed an assembly line into a man cave/hobby shop, where men can be men, where we can spit on the floor and tell lies, listen to Floyd and wonder what the hell happened to humanity. I recall I was setting it up to do this model. It made me laugh to see the picture again because here we are 4 years later and the shop looks like the Royal navy unleased a broad side. 

Next up? Lets paint! And dry-fit! 
 

Hi,
The workshop is a school workshop. On a typical day I can share it with approximately a hundred students, in groups of about twenty, ranging in age from 11 - 18. This particular corner I claim as my own, the bench is mine and will be leaving the school with me when I eventually retire, as will my Poolewood wood turning lathe which also graces the room. I will, however, need to sort out a workshop of my own, when that day comes, that will be big enough to accommodate this equipment and all the other bits and pieces that have accumulated over the years! 
My other project, HMS Victory, is being constructed in the 'spare' bedroom at home, much smaller and 'cosy', to put it politely. 
I get to work very early to avoid travel congestion - the workshop is quiet, there are no students around, for almost an hour my time is my own ........... is there a better way to start a working day?
.... and at the other end of the day, when they've gone home, planning and marking is up to date and any meetings are finished ........... 
 
Thanks for the comments and 'likes', the feedback is much appreciated.
 
Cheers,
 
Graham
 

Thanks for the ‘likes’, comments and input.  Always welcome and appreciated.
 
Michael (MEDDO) – the equipment is not exactly mine,  but having access to it is the next best thing. The planner / thicknesser and I go back 40 years – and I believe it was almost 20 years old when I first used it!  I must have fed the equivalent of a small forest through it over that time …..
Christian – I agree that the black and the brown pens that I used on the aft deadwood are too dark.  I have found a set of ‘Furniture Touch up scratch repair’ marker pens that contain lighter browns and plan to experiment with these when they arrive next week.
 
In the mean-time the components for the bow structure are ready to be cut out.

I’ve been working on the false keel and keel parts this week.  All the scarf joints have been marked out and cut.


 
I have also made a temporary filler piece for the space between the fore and aft deadwoods, where the frames will go later,  to help with shaping the bottom edges of the keelson components and to aid with the alinement  of the various sub-assemblies when they are glued together.


I’ll be adding the tapers to the ends later.  They are ready for gluing now and once dry I plan to add the treenails to the joints.  Showing my inexperience here,  but should these be wooden pegs or copper wire? – I’ve seen both methods used …..
 
Cheers for now,
 
Graham.

Hi,
 
The first step is often the hardest ….
 
I hope to undertake this challenge of building my first POF ship in order to develop my practical skills and learn new techniques - as well as ending up with a (hopefully) impressive final model.  I’ve been preparing for a month or so – downloading the plans for the keel, getting them printed and sourcing the wood.
My choice of timber is cherry for the keel and frames, maple for the false keel and other components further down the line and I also have some black walnut in store.
The timber as purchased:
 

 
A strip of each cut off, split and planed down to 8 mm.
 

 
Ready to start ….
 

 
The first component I decided to make was the aft deadwood.
Patterns cut out and glued onto the cherry with ‘Spray Mount’. I’ve found that this holds the paper in place well enough without leaving any residue on the surface once removed. A couple of times the paper lifted while a piece was being worked but this was spotted and dealt with before errors occurred.
 

 
After initial cutting out with a band saw edges were refined with a combination of a band facer and drum sander.
 


 
I have read about, and liked, the technique of enhancing wood joints with permanent marker pens and decided to experiment with black and brown pens on some off-cuts. To say the difference is subtle would be a wild exaggeration!  Blowed if I could tell the difference….
 

 
The pieces were glued together, cleaned up and the ‘steps’ marked prior to the waste wood being removed with chisels.
 


 
My first attempt. I’m leaving the final shaping to the sides until much more of the keel has been completed in order to try and get my head around how much wood needs to be removed.
 


 
I have also been working on making a building board.
 


Before I work on progressing further could someone confirm whether or not this project has been opened to new members again, please? I’m a bit confused by the message saying that it is on the ‘Forum’ front page and the one at the top of the ‘Cross section’ thread saying it’s temporarily closed.
 
In no way is the fact that this project has no big glossy box to smuggle through the back door while the Admiral isn’t looking, thus avoiding the inevitable questions of ‘how much?’ or ‘and where is it going to go when it’s finished’ has absolutely no bearing on my decision to get actively involved ….. honest…
 
Cheers,
 
Graham.

I’ve gone down a bit of a rabbit hole! Having developed the idea of the functioning front diveplanes described above - the ideas for improvement kept coming! I’ve now got a prototype ready to be built into the hull, where the two movements of the front diveplanes, the folding and unfolding of the planes flush against the hull, and the up/down movement of the diveplanes when sailing under water, are achieved with just one servo.
 

 
the up/down movement is achieved with a white gear and a white linear gear. 
 

IMG_0430.mov    
prior to folding, the planes are rotated vertical by these white 3D printed cogs. On further movement of the servo the linear cog runs out of teeth, and the white gear contain a magnet leaving the planes in the vertical parking position. Then a brass rod pushed in parallel with the white linear gear folds the planes via the brass gears previously described. A spring made from 0,5mm brass unfolds the gears as the servo retracts both rods until the linear gear re-engages. 
 

crazy complex, but it runs with little friction, uses less than 0,1 amps on a mini servo and uses no current when not moving. Very happy - will need to program an arduino to tie the servo movement to the “dive” and “surface” commands and the diveplanes signals from the transmitter.
 
now hopefully back to some woodwork, apologies for the distraction!

You're welcome to it, mate.  Another one, when I've f...ed something up is that I feel "lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut."
 
Speaking of modern 'wagons', there is something I learned today about Outback conveyances like the one pictured below ...
 

Impressive work Craig, especially the challenging task of marking, cutting and lining those gun ports! 
As you said in your first post, filler and sanding is definitely often your friend and has certainly helped me out on numerous occasions. 
Coming up with jigs and other aids to assist in achieving accuracy is an aspect of model making that I enjoy. I'm currently thinking through a way of drilling the two holes above each gun port for the supporting ropes. Unfortunately I no longer have any access to those well equipped workshops, and in particular the software and laser cutter that I used to make many of those simple tools.... but I have a plan.....
I'm getting closer to finishing my home workshop at the bottom of the garden. The insulation arrived last week, the electrical supply has been planned and the fittings etc. are being sourced as funds become available. I have also successfully experimented with a way to clad the internal walls using recycled (and free!) wood. I'll be updating the build log for this in 'Shore leave' when a bit more progress has been made.
In the meantime there's plenty of prep work to keep me busy on Victory.
Looking forward to watching your build, you've clearly made excellent progress so far 👏😁

Hi Craig,
Covid certainly changed things and its impact on you clearly brings its impact into perspective. Sorry to hear you lost your business! From a personal point of view it caused me to make the difficult decision to retire earlier than planned from the rewarding 44 year plus career I loved. With no proven medical solutions at the time, some students idea of meeting safety protocols being to rub their hands together to give the impression that they had sanitized on their way onto the school site as they bypassed the measures provided for their protection, and the stress of trying to deliver a genuinely high standard of education in my chosen field of Design Technology and Product Design remotely when classes were 'closed' and isolated due to infection, I relented and accepted the Admiral's advice to put my own health first for once and to hang up my workshop apron a year earlier than expected. Teaching a practical subject when the workshop facilities were unavailable, lessons were delivered in classrooms normally used from anything Science to Geography or Music definitely had an adverse impact on mental health. As for retirement, it's definitely not as expected and I still look forward to the time when I can fully enjoy it.... I can honestly say that I have never been so busy! Grandchildren, and the Admiral's house and garden projects make me long for those happy halcyon days when returning to work on Monday morning brought an illusionary opportunity to relax a bit! 
But we move on, the world has definitely changed. The photo in your post is impressive and intriguing and I look forward to hearing and seeing more with eager anticipation....... no pressure 😄
Cheers,
Graham 

Graham,
Thank you for your kind words, its motivation to process all the photogs of this build. Here's a few photos up to the end of the first planking. Of course at the beginning of planking I resolved to do a first class job, by the time I l got to the keel, I reminded myself that putty and sandpaper were going to be my friend.



Second Planking
I did a little better with the walnut planking. At this stage, I had put in some time and acquired the Longridge and McKay books, committing a grievous sin by pulling the Longridge drawings from the book to spread out on the bench. 
 
My big resolve for the second planking was to taper the plank no more than half its width. Working out the drop planks and stealers was easier with the big glue surface of the first layer. Each plank had a black thread running between them as well, some idea I thought was cool and looked OK but I probably wouldn't do again. 
 
I should probably say here that I also joined this website and thanks to some build logs on this kit was fore warned of a problem with the cannon port templates, in that it was out of scale with the model(more on that later). So Thank You ModelShipWorld.Com and the NRC. 
 

My trusty steam iron. Its amazing what you can do with these.


 
 
 

Hi Craig,
Covid certainly changed things and its impact on you clearly brings its impact into perspective. Sorry to hear you lost your business! From a personal point of view it caused me to make the difficult decision to retire earlier than planned from the rewarding 44 year plus career I loved. With no proven medical solutions at the time, some students idea of meeting safety protocols being to rub their hands together to give the impression that they had sanitized on their way onto the school site as they bypassed the measures provided for their protection, and the stress of trying to deliver a genuinely high standard of education in my chosen field of Design Technology and Product Design remotely when classes were 'closed' and isolated due to infection, I relented and accepted the Admiral's advice to put my own health first for once and to hang up my workshop apron a year earlier than expected. Teaching a practical subject when the workshop facilities were unavailable, lessons were delivered in classrooms normally used from anything Science to Geography or Music definitely had an adverse impact on mental health. As for retirement, it's definitely not as expected and I still look forward to the time when I can fully enjoy it.... I can honestly say that I have never been so busy! Grandchildren, and the Admiral's house and garden projects make me long for those happy halcyon days when returning to work on Monday morning brought an illusionary opportunity to relax a bit! 
But we move on, the world has definitely changed. The photo in your post is impressive and intriguing and I look forward to hearing and seeing more with eager anticipation....... no pressure 😄
Cheers,
Graham 

Penzo and Marzari are the greatest experts on Adriatic boats, each of their books is a treasure !! the 2 models that I have reproduced are part of the maritime museum of Cesenatico, In my opinion the trabaccolo is among all the Adriatic boats the most fascinating (Marzari has made a beautiful monograph)

Nice and relaxing getting onto something easy. Side entry port and steps. Tape to stop any rogue steps disappearing inside the hull. The elm tree pump lining flew off across the room but I was amazed to find it again. Fenders and chesstrees next.

Quarter galleries nearly finished. Just more brass profile to go, not my favourite so far. I gave up on masking tape for the black panels for between the windows so used some 0.5 x 3mm I had from a previous model. 

This picture shows my first attempt at the decorative scrolls, refered to as moulding swirls in the manual, that enhance the hull decorations.
The method that the kit provides is a bit lacking and many builders have come up with alternative improvements. 

My plan was to try and replicate the way these scrolls flow from the straight sections of brass profile. This first attempt is very rough but in terms of developing the technique and proving the concept it taught me alot.
The first step was to use a piercing saw fitted with a 0/4 blade to cut 20 mm up the brass strip following the two thinest sections

The second cut then turned out to remove the bottom piece
 
The two remaining pieces were carefully spread apart wide enough to allow a needle file to access the inner sufaces to smooth them off.

8 mm was then cut off the centre section and the outer sides filed to tapered points

One lesson learned from the test piece was not to anneal the strip until all the cutting and filing was completed.
Once these two 'fingers' were annealled
round nosed pliers were used to roll the centre of the scroll

The top section was then bent around the centre

The excess length was cut off and this piece pushed into place

These pictures shows the scrolls in place and includes the larger scroll at the stern. This one was made the same way, the only difference being those two saw cuts which were made 25 mm long, and the tightness of the scrolls.


Having the channels still removable at this stage made adding these brass strips more manageable, I certainly wouldn't want to have had to work around them! 
A word of warning relating to the channels. Looking at plan sheet 5 there are vertical lines shown under the three main sections which turned out to be PE support brackets (Part 626). I've looked through the manual but cannot see any written reference to them. Glad I spotted this now before adding the chainplate assemblies.
Just a few more sections of brass profile to add to this side, then I can tackle the port side of the hull.
Cheers,
Graham
 
 

Hi Folks,
 
The first of the challenges I chose to undertake was the
rudder – to replicate the kit’s original piece, on the left, using the Victory
oak.
 

 
One side was cleaned up, the thickness then cut narrowly
oversize with a band saw, and then the timber was sanded down to its final
thickness of 5mm using the jig. The aroma of old oak (with a hint of tar?)
added to the pleasure of the task.
 

 

It was going to be a tight fit!
 

After transferring the outline the shaping was done using a
powered fretsaw and needle files.
 

Job done! The finished rudder is mostly copper clad with the
top section painted black – I’ll probably leave some of this upper area
unpainted and just apply matt varnish; but that’s way off in the future….

Next – the copper plates.
 
Cheers,
 
Graham

First Planking

With the bulkheads set and the ply gunport patterns all glued in place the chamfering of the bulkheads were given a final ‘tweak’ prior to starting the planking. To help with this, and with the earlier shaping of the bulkheads, I put together a jig that held the model securely on its side. I found this helped with resisting the forces exerted when pushing the temporary pins in and could be used for the majority of the hull.
 

 

 


Following the advice given on this site concerning tools I invested in a pair of plank nippers. A bit of practice quickly proved what a useful piece of equipment these are, although I wouldn’t use them on the ships boats as the inside of the first planking of these is visible and the small groves the nippers leave would show. I have to date finished the first planking of the launch and some of the second planking.
The first couple of planks are laid without any need for tapering but to avoid forcing the initial planks into place I started by putting ‘stealers’ at both the bow and stern.
 

 

 
For the most of the planking the procedure was:
• Trim the plank end to match the stem
• Taper the top edges (with a slight undercut as well) for the first and last four or so bulkheads by anything from 1/3rd to 2/3rds of the plank’s width as determined by offering the plank up to its position. Leave plenty of overlap at the stern for later trimming
• Holding the plank in place pre-drill or bradawl (I used a map pin for this) pin holes through the plank and into a manageable number of bulkheads. (4 – 5 usually)
• Apply glue to four or five bulkheads at a time where there will be contact with the plank
• Apply glue to the matching length of the edge of plank
• Pin plank to bulkheads, and use clips between bulkheads to ensure good edge to edge contact.

Off-cuts of planking make great glue applicators!

Keep telling yourself – it’ll be fine when its sanded……..it’ll be fine when it’s sanded….
 

 

 


A few ‘stealers’ where required, especially at the stern, but these were no problem to cut to fit the gaps.
 


Sanding the hull to shape turned out to be more straight-forward than I anticipated but as it is a messy job the hull had to be transported to work for the task – you get some funny looks walking across the car park with one of these tucked under your arm! My only regret was filling blemishes with filler that was a bit darker than it could have been which tended to emphasize defects but as the whole lot gets covered with the second planking and subsequent painting it does not matter too much.

Next installment - juggling the components that make the Quarter Galleries.
 
 
Cheers for now,
 
Graham

Update.